America's wealthiest people got even richer over the past year, with the top 400 now worth 1.13 trillion dollars, Forbes magazine reports. Microsoft founder Bill Gates kept his top spot on the Forbes list for the 12th straight year as his fortune grew to 51 billion dollars.
He widened his lead over number two Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, whose net worth slipped from a year ago to 40 billion dollars.
Forbes said Buffett's fortune shrank by four billion dollars with some of his investment in American International Group and General Re "taking it on the chin."
Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft with Gates who has left the software giant, was third on the list with a worth of 22.5 billion, followed by computer group founder Michael Dell (18 billion) and Larry Ellison, founder of business software giant Oracle (17 billion).
The remaining five members of the top 10 are members of the Walton family that is heir to the Wal-Mart fortune, each of whom is worth more than 15 billion dollars, Forbes estimated.
John Walton, who died in a plane crash in June, was replaced by his wife, Christy at number six on the list, followed by Jim Walton, S. Robson Walton, Alice Walton and Helen Walton.
Among the notables who fell off the list this year was DreamWorks cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg.
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